A New/ Old Interview with Wesley Britton

Below is the text of an interview with me that was supposedly going to appear in a newsletter to promote my Return to Alpha, The Beta-Earth Chronicles, Book 6.

That was over a year ago and the interview was never published. I don't know why. I just rediscovered it in my files and decided to post it my blogs despite the fact another book in the series came out lastfall and a batch of new short stories are appearing related to characters introduced in Return to Alpha, especially those featuring detective Mary Carpenter before she meets the aliens in RTA.

So, at long last, here are insights into Book 6 of the Beta-Earth Chronicles:

Question: Why a book on this subject?

Answer: Twice before, I thought I was done with the Beta-Earth Chronicles, first thinking book 4 was the end, then book 5 as I had gone as far as I could with the original characters. Then an editor suggested I write a Romeo and Juliet story with a new Adam and Eve. I took those two starting points and created a new cast of characters and sent them to our own planet 40 years in the future.

Question: What was the most interesting thing you discovered?

Answer: It’s very different to project what might happen on our earth from creating totally different alternate earths. Trying to describe what humanity might become in the aftermath of devastating global warming and weaponized biological plagues.

Question: What's in the book that no one yet knows about?

Answer: That we would become very localized in the aftermath of massive devastation to the point the U.S. would split into four countries. That keeping control of our lives would mean becoming tribal and more independent.

Question: The most fascinating character is . . . .?

Answer: That’s a toughie. I’d have to say a couple, Malcolm Renbourn II of Beta-Earth and his lover from our Alpha-Earth, Major Mary Carpenter.

Question: I'm only buying one book this year. Why should this be the one?

Answer: Well, this book includes a cosmic Romeo and Juliet story, sets up a new Adam and Eve, and has much, much more. As with the previous Beta-Earth books, expect originality, surprises, the unexpected, going where you’ve never gone before. I promise.

And, it works very well as a stand-alone book. This means you wouldn’t have to read the previous five books to understand what’s going on.

Question: What are you working on now?

Answer: Since Return to Alpha was published, I’ve been working on short stories that are both prequels and sequels to what happens in RTA. Several tales you can download for free at various book publicity sites—the rest you have to wait for until a collection of these stories is ready to go.